At the recent Priest Hutton Parish AGM the following officers were elected – Martin Shuttleworth – Chair, Jean Johns – Clerk, Phil Horsfield – Treasurer. Edwina Shuttleworth, the outgoing clerk, was thanked for her many years of service to the Parish. The meeting was well attended and fortunate to have County Coun Phillippa Williamson and the Mayor of Lancaster, Coun Roger Mace as guests – both of whom offered to take many of our concerns forward to the appropriate authorities. The Treasurer presented a statement of account for the year up to March 2018. This showed a very healthy closing balance of £2,490.00. It was agreed to keep the precept at £2,000, donate £500 to the Village Hall for the purchase of new staging and raise the Clerk’s honorarium to £100. The Risk Assessment document was circulated and it was agreed that there were no uninsured or unmanaged risks to the Parish. A document about the Community Governance Review was circulated and after an explanation about the purpose of this review from County Coun Williamson, and a short discussion, a vote was taken and it was unanimously agreed that Priest Hutton will remain as an individual Parish with no changes. Chairman’s Report for 2017 highlighted the following successes: Grass cutting of the Village Green and has been well done. Parish land (Nature Reserves) have been kept tidy. The fence at the junction of Whitebeck Lane / Burton Road has been painted. A joint website for Borwick & Priest Hutton has been created. He also mentioned several concerns: The height of the hedges on the top left hand side of Whitebeck Lane. Potholes in the roads. Dredging of the Beck. Flooding in the Village. The unsightly metal structure in the field at the junction of Whitebeck Lane and Burton Road. Plans were made to address all these concerns. Villagers said that they would like names be put on all roads in the Village. The next Priest Hutton Parish Meeting will be on Thursday, May 17th 2018 at 8pm in the Memorial Hall. After the meeting villagers enjoyed a glass of wine and nibbles.

At the recent Borwick Parish Meeting AGM, Lisa Vines, Election Manager from Lancaster City Council, came to talk about the Community Governance Review which occurs every 10-15 years in the district. After much discussion it was decided that Borwick would remain as an individual Parish Meeting and all present voted unanimously to maintain the status quo. There was little to report on recent planning issues as planning enforcement notices issued with regard to the Villa last year are still being resisted by the site owners and have now gone to appeal and no new planning notifications have been received. With regard to highways issues some repair of potholes has taken place around the village and most of the gullies have been cleaned which has improved the drainage in many areas. More complicated issues at Borwick Hall would benefit from a County Council site visit and Councillor Williamson agreed to progress this. The Treasurer reported that the balance of account stands at £484 in the bank and £1318 in the Building Society. St Mary’s Church asked for a donation of £500 towards their development project and Joyce Tombs gave a report on the ambitious plans drawn up including an extension, toilet facilities and new heating and the likely costs of the project were also discussed. All present voted to donate £500 to the renovation and it was also agreed to contribute £500 towards the cost of new staging at the Memorial Hall. The Clerk’s honorarium was also increased to £100 per annum to cover the rising cost of printer ink. The Meeting voted to adopt the NALC model financial regulations and also unanimously voted to set the council precept at £1000 for the coming year. The Chairman (Dave Scott), Clerk (Claire Helme) and Treasurer (Sue Dowdall) were also duly re-elected for a further year. The Clerk reported that the balance of account for the Poors Land Charity stands at £1927 with the rent received in July and that there had been no requests for funding from the charity for the last two years. The annual village litter pick was set for Saturday 3 March at 10am and the date of the next meeting was scheduled for Wednesday 16 May at 7.30pm in Borwick Hall.